Ode to Charlie Bone
by the wistful mouse
Summary: Some poems that I wrote about the characters ages ago. They aren't good, but I'd appreciate it if you had a look anyway :
1. Asa

Just free verse (I'm too lazy to do rhyme schemes and all that jazz) poems that I wrote when I was bored. All the same, I'd appreciate any comments as I've never shown my poetry to anyone before :)

Disclaimer: All characters/places belong to Jenny Nimmo

* * *

**Asa's poem**

There are two sides to me  
Light and dark:  
Like the moon  
That robs me relentlessly of one half  
Each and every sunset and sunrise

By day  
The light shines down on me  
And it protects me from the animal snarling within me  
That makes me do things I regret.  
For whilst the radiant  
Light shines down on me  
I am the master and am ruled only by  
My (somewhat compromised) brain  
And my actions are my own desire

But alas this cannot last forever

For the light fades  
And it grows inside of me:  
The lurking shadows of darkness slithering up into my head  
Taking over me  
Ruling me  
Overriding every merciful thought  
Until there is nothing left but  
Beast  
With an  
Uncontrollable thirst for destruction  
An instinct for savagery  
Nothing left but  
Ugly, unloved  
Beast.

But even by day  
When the light shines down on me  
I am ruled not by myself  
But by others:  
Powerful others of whom I'm too scared of to disobey  
As a  
Weak,  
Pitiful  
Human.  
So that to the ones whom I long to help,  
And to stand by,  
And receive through them the friend that I never had  
(That I need),  
I remain  
Just a  
Beast


	2. Manfred

**Manfred's poem**

My family cares for me,  
I know that.  
So why are these thoughts invading my head?  
Why do I feel that when my father orders me  
To 'take care' of one of the endowed  
(When surely, really, they are one of my own?)  
And Grandpa asks me to help him in his experiments  
(Even though all they do is make me feel useless)  
That my life only exists inside these stone walls?

What would I be without this ancient building?  
This fortress of my soul?  
Without it, I wonder, would I be like them?  
That Bone and Sage and Torrson?  
Is that why  
While I am here staring out of the fretwork of a cold window  
At the world that is alien to me  
They are out there within it.

I used to think that the only reason they all met up  
Was because they wanted to  
Plot and scheme and bring me down.  
But it occurs to me,  
As I sit here alone,  
What if they see each other because  
They enjoy each others company?

What a strange notion.  
Or maybe it is an age old idea that  
Can only exist on those outside?  
(Those ruled only by their hearts and their brains, not their family)

An idea that, to me,  
Sitting alone in my home,  
My vast prison,  
Is unattainable.

* * *

Aww, poor Manny! :(


	3. Benjamin

Oh, look, I found one that I had actually bothered to rhyme. I shouldn't have bothered, I suck at rhyming :/ Still, please feel free to review :)

* * *

**Benjamin's poem: What about me?**

It's just one of those things:  
Nature painted a red arrow at me when I was young.  
And that was it: I was 'that kid'  
The one everyone's harsh pointed words stung

The kids at school were mean,  
I was always alone.  
But it didn't really matter to me,  
Because Charlie was always home

He would sit next to me in lessons  
When everyone would look the other way  
We would talk and laugh and play cards  
Gently blowing precious time astray

But the guy in the clouds,  
He decided people don't have it hard enough.  
As soon as the time bomb ticks ten years  
Life started to get tough

Charlie was torn from my grasping hand by fate,  
And despite trying my best to be positive for the times ahead  
(Because that's what best friends do, I guess)  
Those cold days of Autumn we looked to with dread.

That next school term was enduring  
Both for me, and my friend  
Me: a vortex of loneliness and torment  
Of which I thought would never end

And Charlie: my treasured Charlie,  
It sounded terrible what happened to you:  
Those horrible people and events,  
No wonder you look so blue.

But after New Year,  
Something changed, something snapped  
Charlie, you said you wanted to go back:  
Leaving me still trapped.

I saw you, Charlie,  
And everything was not as it should be.  
You were the same: the quiet righteousness, the hedge of hair,  
But the way you spoke that day to me:  
It was like I was nothing, I wasn't even there.

Charlie, why is it  
That whilst I am chained in a never moving photograph,  
With nothing, no one but my beloved Labrador,  
You live wild and free and happy fighting Bloor's staff,  
You find happiness in another drawer.

Tell me Charlie:  
I might not be much, I'm not one who explores.  
I'm not brave, and I don't fight battles with glee.  
But now you've left me for those kids at Bloors,  
Charlie Bone, _what about me_?


	4. Zelda

_Good news (Or perhaps bad news)! I ran out of old poems, so I wrote this poem today when I was bored. Hmm, the start is a bit rubbish, I quite like the ending though..._

_

* * *

_

**Zelda's poem: Goodbye, goodbye my darling**

The only reason I'm writing this is for uni,  
I hate writing this stupid, dopey poem.  
Showing your feelings only makes you look puny.  
Yet I shall write this about him: that'll show'im.

It all started on a cold winter's day,  
The trees keeling over like pure white, skeletal fingers,  
Trailing over the cream blanket, hiding the decay.  
That day sticks to my mind, like crisp ice, it lingers.

I exited the large beetle-like car, trailed behind the chauffeur, the fool:  
A man born in a suit who struggled with my brown suitcase.  
I wasn't sure I'd like this school.  
And then, out of the shadows of the large doorway, I saw his face.

It glowed like the moon against the midnight sky  
His eyes shined like stars, like meteors flaming into my heart  
I stopped fast, and my father asked me why,  
But I could only think: this boy is a work of art!

And thus, many sunsets had passed:  
Me and him, my darling, secretly presented our hearts  
But I was stupid to think that it could last.  
Those words he said that day: they felt like poison darts.

It wasn't his fault, it hurt him too.  
He was simply mimicking the words of Dr Bloor  
(His puppeteer and his oppressor, it's true)  
My darling beautiful parrot whose heart was pure.

That night, he shattered my life, my soul  
I was not rich, prestigious, beautiful enough.  
That night, it took all of my self-control  
To not cry, to show that I was tough.

That morning, I left; the hair he'd once stroked  
Was dark and subdued and its life gone.  
Like my spirit, torn apart and choked  
Thrown and kicked and stamped upon.

I saw his face again behind a window with bars,  
That pale celestial haze: my satellite, leading me where I belonged  
But my home was no longer here, there were no stars.  
But I turned away, hurt and wronged.

I heard later he'd announced my absence in the King's room,  
His eyes dim and sad, and as meek as a starling.  
Maybe he was remembering those words I'd said through the gloom:  
Goodbye, goodbye, my darling.


	5. Olivia

Requested by Venetia Yewbeam (haha, not the actual character) - hope you like it :)  
Well, this isn't good at all because I don't much like Olivia, so I couldn't get into writing about her much (or maybe that's just a bad excuse...)

* * *

**Olivia's poem – Apples and rainbows**

When I started at Bloors,  
When my body clock ticked ten years,  
My life was as ordinary as yours  
My only talent was a gift for fake tears.

But something happened, something changed.  
When I bumped into a boy in the hall.  
I must have looked such an idiot, so deranged,  
Yet this was nothing to what would soon befall.

Because that chance meeting ignited  
My membership to a world of Jekyll and Hyde:  
Of secret storms, flying and talking pictures united,  
Whilst battling ordinary teenage problems inside.

Alas, my membership was honorary, incomplete,  
I could only stand in the periphery with no cares.  
I longed for a power, so I too could defeat  
The enemies I called 'ours' but were truly theirs

Oh, holy pineapples, be careful what you wish for!  
As I discovered that confusing, horrible time.  
When flowers wilted and peeling apples became a chore,  
When my life held to reason or rhyme.

Thank goodness for Alice, my friend:  
For helpful Charlie and sweet Emma  
For their support when I was going round the bend,  
For helping me make sense of my dilemma.

And now that I can understand,  
And I can peel apples better than any,  
Now life isn't nearly so bland!  
For I can conjure up anything, even a penny!

Finally, my life has a meaning,  
Finally, I have a new role.  
I mean, acting could sometimes be demeaning,  
But this saving the world has soul.

Now no one can stop me: Livvy the great,  
To me, no one can oppose.  
'Cos I can climb the highest gate.  
'Cos I'm singing rainbows.


	6. Emma

**Emma's poem**

When I look at that old photograph,  
Of 'me' with Mr and Ms Moon,  
It makes me almost want to laugh:  
How different I looked that afternoon!

My eyes pale, ringed and dead to the world,  
My hair limp and long and enveloping  
My fists bony and weakly unfurled.  
My smile was only just developing.

It makes me sad to think I sat there alone:  
Pale and white and so cold.  
The instinct to fly free stolen from the known,  
By those eyes that seemed oddly old.

But from Charlie, dear Charlie (without whom:  
I wouldn't be in this wonderful bookshop  
I'd be still trapped in that tomb)  
I have learnt to look forward, and never stop.

Only my life is pretty prefect, free from harms.  
I have my wonderful aunt, my beloved Nancy bird  
(through whom I can feel my mother in my arms)  
And my friends, of whose faults are unheard.

Friends. That word meaning joy brings me pain  
(but only when I think about him)  
Because I want to be more in vain,  
So how can I see our future when its so grim?

Oh, Tanc: angel glowing in a storm,  
How I admire, respect (…love) you.  
Your eyes so bright and your smile so warm,  
Are pierced, engraved to my heart: a tattoo.

I went out tonight on a venture (they're rare as I fret),  
Dressed as a sparrow I soared off the drain.  
I hoped the exhilaration would let me forget,  
But then my wings were burnt by the rain

Maybe we just aren't meant to be,  
Maybe I'm just too scared,  
Maybe the future is too difficult to foresee,  
Maybe at you I shouldn't have stared.

Before I realised the love that fate forbids,  
I used to think me and Emilia on opposites did we dwell,  
But now I realise that we're both scared little kids  
Simply hidden in a different shell.


	7. Mrs Bloor

Random, rubbish poem written very quickly. I planned for it to be a deep, depressing piece (hence the character choice) as that was how I was feeling, but I wasn't really in the creative sort of mood...  
Still, please review, I'd mean a lot :)

* * *

Some girls wish to marry  
Some girls want to be rich  
I have both: but can't tarry  
Because there's a terrible glitch

In the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
But in the end I lost everything I prized,  
Now live a pathetic life most haunted.

I should have waited a bit,  
I should have said no,  
But I was blinded by love and wit,  
And the glint of gold dough

In the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
But in the end I lost everything I prized,  
Now live a pathetic life most haunted.

I agreed to marry him, I had his child  
It felt so right, so perfect.  
Everyday I sat and smiled  
But it was not as I'd expect

In the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
But in the end I lost everything I prized,  
Now live a pathetic life most haunted.

Manfred should have spelled joy,  
But instead triggered pain.  
Swarming evil inside my only boy  
With only cursed genes to blame

In the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
But in the end I lost everything I prized,  
Now live a pathetic life most haunted.

Then through the grey of life  
Like glass mirrors shattered tenfold  
He saved me from the Bloor knife,  
Dragged me from the cold.

In the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
But in the end I lost everything I prized,  
But live a hopeful life, quite haunted.

Charlie, a sunbeam in a storm,  
I forget everything they had said,  
I began to magically transform  
From ghostly grey to red.

Towards the perfect dream I once fantasised:  
The ideal husband, living life undaunted  
And in the end I gained everything once prized,  
And never lived a pathetic life haunted.


	8. The city

_Okay, so this poem is sort of about lots of the characters in Charlie Bone. It's cheesy and not usually my sort of thing, but I was just thinking about what a strong emotion love is, and how it's different forms are reflecting in the varying relationships of book characters. Enjoy :)_  
_(Oh, and the third to last stanza is from Manfred's perspective, if its not very clear)_

* * *

I

Love can destroy you, rip apart your soul  
Like a tornado clawing through your heart  
Like a torrential downpour on your head  
Like lightning obliterating the calm.

And Emma, I wish I could just tell you  
And Tancred, I wish I wasn't so scared  
That sweet, wistful dreams could come true at last  
That they could come crashing down like rainfall

II

Love can change you, mould you, make something new  
It strips you to a helpless skeleton  
And rubs your soul raw, scrubbing the badness,  
Paints on a smile, a twinkle in your eye

Zelda, you were my secret indulgence  
The lit candle in those shadowy halls  
Manfred, no one would recognise you now  
Your true self was peeled open to me lone

III

Love can inspire, can strengthen us all  
You could scale a mountain in a heartbeat  
Dig yourself from the depths of death's darkness  
And fly with blessed angel's wings to your love

Amy, lost deep in flurries of music  
I see you, hear you, I love you always  
Lyell, I'll never relinquish the fight,  
To find you, hold you, love you evermore

IV

Love can be an empty shell, hiding truth  
A cloak for infatuation, obsession  
A word for when you see your reflection  
In their eyes, their everything but their soul

Belle, you and I: a multitude of beasts,  
But united in that one sole true form.  
Asa, my eager puppy turned shadow  
My useful puppet with heart torn open

V

Love can be our brain's hidden dictator,  
A strong, shy ghost never revealed but there  
A guiding motherly hand on your back  
Forgotten, turning ferocious monster

Lyell, I raised you, cared for you, loved you  
The Bloor's jester thinking it wouldn't hurt:  
That stabbing pain with the photographs gone,  
Piano keys cold and dead and silent

VI

Love: the greatest mystery never solved  
Shimmering like ripples on water's face  
But lurking in the murky, hidden depths  
Life's chameleon taking different forms

Mother, you sat silent in the shadows  
Whilst Dad strode and shouted and demanded  
I thought it made you useless, uncaring  
But you were the cog keeping me ticking

VII

Love is precious and irreplaceable  
A delicate crystal heirloom always  
There but contorting to fit its client.  
Love: an invisible necessity

The City is a wild cacophony  
Of people and desires and mistakes  
But the red rope which joins them, links them all  
Is the moral, evil presence of love


End file.
